“Lord, should we fight? We brought the swords!”

Nehemiah 1; Nehemiah 2; Psalm 133; Luke 22
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Scripture

Luke 22

47 But even as Jesus said this, a crowd approached, led by Judas, one of the twelve disciples. Judas walked over to Jesus to greet him with a kiss. 48 But Jesus said, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”

49 When the other disciples saw what was about to happen, they exclaimed, “Lord, should we fight? We brought the swords!” 50 And one of them struck at the high priest’s slave, slashing off his right ear.

51 But Jesus said, “No more of this.” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.

52 Then Jesus spoke to the leading priests, the captains of the Temple guard, and the elders who had come for him. “Am I some dangerous revolutionary,” he asked, “that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me?

53 Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there every day. But this is your moment, the time when the power of darkness reigns.”

Observation

I remember from reading in John about the arrest of Jesus that a cohort of soldiers came with the religious leaders to arrest Jesus. They came armed with swords and clubs ready for anything. I remember from the John 18 passage that when Jesus asked the soldiers and Jewish leaders whom they were seeking and He told them that He was Jesus (the person that they were seeking) and the scriptures say that all of the soldiers and religious leaders fell backwards to the ground. They fell to the ground just at the sound of His voice. A cohort of soldiers, 300 to 600 soldiers, fell to the ground and then maybe while they were just getting back to their feet the disciples asked one of the craziest questions and evidently before Jesus could answer one of them did one of the dumbest things imaginable he cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant.

As that ear was falling to the ground do you think Simon Peter felt like someone in one of those Southwest Airlines commercials when after doing something stupid you would hear, “You want to get away?” I think after Peter saw the ear on the ground and looked up at the swords pointed at him, I believe that it was at that moment that it sunk in that he should have waited for an answer about using the two small little swords that the disciples had with them.

I love the story. Jesus reaches down picks up the slashed off ear and then puts it back on the head of the high priest servant completely restored. It was probably at that moment that at least some of the soldiers realized that they were in the presence of Someone far greater and far more powerful than they were. Can you feel the emotion of that moment?

Jesus could have destroyed that cohort of soldiers and all of the Jewish leaders, but He chose not to do that because it was the Father’s will that He suffer for you and for me on the cross. It was the way to the cross.

So when He said, “No more of this,” what He was saying was lets get on with this because it is the way to the cross.

This is one of my favorite Bible passages especially as it is told in John 18 because it shows that Jesus was and is completely in control.

Application

I need to hear God’s voice before I jump out there and do something, because I am liable to do something stupid.


Prayer

Heavenly Father, help me to hear Your voice. Help me to wait on You. Give me a heart that wants to obey You. I love Your Word. I loved reading about Nehemiah and what an example of obedience his life demonstrates for me. Don’t let me do stupid stuff today. Guide me and protect me from sin. I pray for my family today. I pray that they would think about You as they go through their day.

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